Cyano help needed

[shift_9k]

Alright guys, I found a small patch of what looks to be cyano on my sand. I sucked it up during a water change last week. Just today I noticed another small patch on my sand. I dont see it anywhere else in the tank, just a small patch on the sand. I wanna catch it before it turns into a problem. I dont have a PSkimmer, but I run kent's reef carbon once a month after a water change for 3 days. I also run phos-ban, which I replace every month. I have a small clump of chaeto hidden in the display where it gets light and flow. I do water changes 20% every week.

 

Its a 24G AP. With MH, and its now 6mnths old. I feed twice a week (rods food) which my clowns and cleaner eat from my hand. No other algae probs besides this one. Fish and coral are 100% water checks clear of nitrite, ammo, however my nitrates get to about 4-5ppm towards the end of the week right before the water change.

 

 

Any suggestion? I thought I was doing everything possible to keep something like this from happening.

[ReeFur]

use a turkey baster and blow it off the sand and rocks then catch it with a net...i suggest leaving your lights off for a few days

[shift_9k]

Yea didnt want it to go that far, what could be the reason behind it?

[ReeFur]

i guess cyano is like algae...feeds off the light

[nanoreef58]

it is a bacteria

[Thestral]

I'm still relatively new to reefing, my tank has only been up for a bit. (You can check the ticker) However, I managed to battle through a pretty nasty Cyano attack with a lot of research and plenty of work. The two main feeders for Cyano seem to be Phosphates and Nitrates. The phosphates seem to be more critical, at least in my case. I tried running Phosguard but couldn't seem to get my phosphates down. I went through two or three different phosphate removal products before I finally found one that seemed to do the trick. I'm at work at the moment so I can't tell you which one it was, but I'd be glad to post the name of it as soon as I get home. The important thing is that once your Phosphates are down it helps to run a maintenance bag of whatever phos remover you find works. The jar of stuff I have has a reccomended per gallon maintenance dose.

 

Hope I helped some.

[Phuntoon]

I kept pristine water and still had to battle cyano. The easiest way to beat it is more flow. You can get all the products in the world to kill it but if the original problem of why it's there in the first place isn't fixed, it will eventually come back. The patch of cyano you have is most likely in a dead spot. That's how mine started and spread from there. All I had to do was up the flow in that area and in less than 2 weeks, the sand was pearly white once again. That was after it had spread to all the sand and most rocks. This stuff spreads quick. I had actually increased more overall flow to the tank cause I didn't want it to come back....EVER. It hasn't been seen since! Flow is your answer!!!

[davenia7]

I think a lot of Cyano and GHA issues are just part of a natural cycle that the tank takes.

I've been battling both for awhile... but now it's just abating.

One day, lots of both... next day...poof.

I think you'll know you have a problem if you're still fighting it after a longer period of time.

Otherwise... Manually remove it for now and it will probably dissipate with regular WC's.

[Sea Slug]

Shift 9k , Red Slime as you may know is caused by nutrient problem , Blue Life Red Slime Control , beats all other products out there , no water changes or turning off skimmer & reef safe . Here is a link to the product , use it to wipe out the problem , if it comes back you will need to get a handle on your nutrients . John

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...mp;pcatid=16822

[nicrod]

yes great product!!! got rid of all my slime in 5 days!! .......do it.....

[Uhuru]

you guys are sure this is reef safe? even for sps? I may give this a try.

[shift_9k]

Yea I saw that product, from what i read on it seems to work. But regardless the tank has been up for 6 months or so, and im sure it was a phosphate problem. I ran some phosban and most of it is gone now. Took care of it in a couple of days.

[Sea Slug]

you guys are sure this is reef safe? even for sps? I may give this a try.

Positive..........as with all products follow directions to the letter , on the Foster & Smith link click more info and you will get the complete instructions that are in the package .